The 10-minute walk

Spring is here bringing with it the sunshine and warm weather. This is a natural time to get outside more and be more active. This a great time to start building some good habits that can be maintained all year around.

Humans are built to walk and we used to do a lot more of it. 10-minute walks is one habit that can impact several areas of our health. I like shooting for 3 or more 10-minute walks a day, but start where you can. I like to think about like we do our meals a walk at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Here are some of my thoughts on the benefits of walking.

• As a chiropractor I will start with the benefits to the musculoskeletal system. Going for a brisk walk engages the large muscles and joint of our legs and hips. Especially getting our hips into extension undoing at lot of tension and weakness from too much sitting with our hips in a flexed position. Cycling and the elliptical are great for the cardiovascular system but lack this hip extension that is so important for our hips and back. We get some healthy weight bearing impact into our bones to help with bone density. It engages our core and gets nice healthy movement into our spine and shoulders which can even help with neck pain. Walking will stimulate blood flow and lymphatic circulation decongesting our tissues and delivering nutrients to joints and muscles. Getting our 10-minute walks in a few times through the day helps to keep us active throughout the day breaking up periods of prolonged sitting or sedentary behavior.

• Walk outside. Sunlight is critical to our health. Like walking humans have always been exposed to sun and require for good health. Sunlight on our skin and in our eye promotes Vitamin D production which has countless health benefits including boosting our immune system and bone health. Sunlight has impacts on our cellular biology and hormones that helps us maintain our circadian rhythm. Simplified that is our 24 hour sleep-wake cycle. The more congruent we are with the cycle of the sun the better our health will be. Circadian misalignment is associated with many illnesses. Sunlight exposure can be protective against myopia (near-sightedness) which is exacerbated by spending too much time looking and screens or simplifying by focusing too much on objects that our close to us. If we do our 10-minute walks at breakfast, lunch and dinner with get a sampling of the different sun intensities without overdoing it.

• Of course always protect yourself from sunburn. Sunlight is good but sunburns are bad. Our 10-minute walks should be safe but if you’re pending long periods out in the sun protect yourself from burning with shade, clothing, or a sunscreen not laden with chemicals such a zinc oxide based sunscreen.

• Additional benefits of walking include health benefits. Weight loss, lower blood pressure, increased cognition, reduced risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer are all reported when people increase walking times.

• We can take this time to focus on our breathing. Straighten up and walk with a posture that you feel you can take a full breath. Take full breaths in and out through the nose. This helps slow our breathing engaging our diaphragm to fill our lungs. We will get more oxygen to our blood and tissues. Breathing like this can helps relieve stress and mechanical tension in our neck, shoulders, and low back.

• Lastly, walk with a friend. This can be a time to foster social relationships and friendships. Community is and often missed piece our the health journey but crucial to our well-being.

Viewing spring like a “new birth” season is a great way to reset those health goals. It’s a great time to start healthy habits, and the easiest one to attempt is walking. Start with those 10-minute walks and see how you feel.

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Disclaimer

None of the information provided on this website should be substituted for medical evaluation, diagnosis, or treatment from a licensed healthcare practitioner.